How would an opposing coach game-plan to beat UConn?

[MTBingNinja]

I’m not the biggest X & O guy but I’m lost, no glaring weaknesses or constant problems at this juncture. Good to self-evaluate, would make us even stronger. How would you game plan against UConn?

 

[Kitaman]

A great coach whose players are good, and can execute their A game with a arena full of fanatics can probably beat us on a road game.

That's all I got.

 

[Blue Idiaco]

Pressure the PGs early in the half court, maybe even send doubles and trap as they have not shown a proclivity to be able to get to the rim. Play out on/chase Hawkins and JoeyC with taller man. Hedge and double off Andre, Alleyne, Diarra and double Sanogo every time he has the ball since he still struggles to pass. And then hope they miss shots and you can keep them off the glass. None of this is easy.

Attacking them is take advantage of Joey C and Karaban on D. Maybe can get Sanogo or DC into foul trouble with athletic big who can pull them away from paint. Uconn has committed a ton of fouls lately, so having quick guards is maybe a plus, assuming Andre can't shut one of them down. Again, not many holes here

 

[JonnyRI]

Send a guard down to double Sonago every time he catches down low.

Bring my center far away from the basket on O when Clingan in the game.

Switch or do whatever to have to in order to get the guy you want to drive and get to the rim Iso’d with Joey.

Attack Alex down low.

Play extremely tight perimeter D, force UConn guards to actually attempt to drive and make lay ups, but don’t pull weak side help off Sonago or Clingan cuz they will kill you on the oops.

Play 10 feet off AJax when he is beyond the 3 point line.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Ball pressure the guards. That’s been our one issue i’ve noticed.

 

[CL82]

Ball pressure the guards. That’s been our one issue i’ve noticed.

Pressure the PGs early in the half court

The same way Jim Calhoun attacked teams for years. It doesn’t matter how good your bigs are if your guards can’t get them the ball.

Cut the head off the dragon.

 

[mauconnfan]

Jake and the double down on Elton Brand with Sanogo. Make him pass the ball, he can't do that very well. Make him put the ball on the floor, more than once or twice for him leads to trouble for us.

And as noted many times, pressure the ball when its away from Andre. Our guards are crumbling the last couple when guarded tightly. #2 for the Gators gave Newton and Diarra absolute fits.

 

[PChoops]

Have not posted on here in a while, man you are guys good......let's see, I think Cooley switches to a defensive lineup in this one. Don't know if you guys seen Carter yet, but he's on Hawkins and he will get about 2 steals, that's a given....your handle better be tight. Play off of Jackson, if he's hitting, then we got a live with it. Croswell is a big boy, Sanogo will get his but all Croswell will make it tough. For Clingan, I thinking you have to put him in pick and roll situations and try to get him in foul trouble. On offense I don't see anyone on Uconn that can stop Hopkins. I think we can attack karaban hopefully the 3 ball is falling......that's what I got

 

[Chin Diesel]

 

[BlueMAB]

Full court trapping zone. 1-2-2 or 2-2-1 depending on your personnel.

 

[Kembacity]

Have not posted on here in a while, man you are guys good......let's see, I think Cooley switches to a defensive lineup in this one. Don't know if you guys seen Carter yet, but he's on Hawkins and he will get about 2 steals, that's a given....your handle better be tight. Play off of Jackson, if he's hitting, then we got a live with it. Croswell is a big boy, Sanogo will get his but all Croswell will make it tough. For Clingan, I thinking you have to put him in pick and roll situations and try to get him in foul trouble. On offense I don't see anyone on Uconn that can stop Hopkins. I think we can attack karaban hopefully the 3 ball is falling......that's what I got

Not sure how many of our games you’ve watched but Sanogo/Clingan have already faced some pretty big guys, and each has had a game they didn’t play well, team still won by double digits. We’ll see but I’m looking forward to our PC matchups this year

 

[Chin Diesel]

Pressure the PGs early in the half court, maybe even send doubles and trap as they have not shown a proclivity to be able to get to the rim. Play out on/chase Hawkins and JoeyC with taller man. Hedge and double off Andre, Alleyne, Diarra and double Sanogo every time he has the ball since he still struggles to pass. And then hope they miss shots and you can keep them off the glass. None of this is easy.

Attacking them is take advantage of Joey C and Karaban on D. Maybe can get Sanogo or DC into foul trouble with athletic big who can pull them away from paint. Uconn has committed a ton of fouls lately, so having quick guards is maybe a plus, assuming Andre can't shut one of them down. Again, not many holes here

Pressuring Newton as the PG should be the answer. Problem is Jackson is a better ball handler than almost any opponent's second best on ball defender. And Newton can function as a spot up shooter or slasher if Jackson is on the point.

I think the best answer is to double Sanogo, try to frustrate him and make UConn in to a perimeter team. Of course, if UConn shoots a bunch of 3's, Sanogo is a pretty good offensive rebounder, as are others.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

It doesn’t matter how good your bigs are if your guards can’t get them the ball.

Thats why Hurley is holding on to his Clingan at PG lineups until March

 

[husky429]

Defense:

• Press/pressure our guards. Turnovers are a problem from the PG spot. If I can get Newton and Diarra to turn it over a few times each and a team total of 15+, things are going to look better for my team. Double in the corners, aggressively pressure. Something like a havoc pressure that prioritizes corner traps could be effective if executed at a high level.
• I'm going to face guard Hawkins as much as possible, and force Alleyne/Jackson/Diarra to shoot (and hope Joey C comes back to earth with his shooting). Newton is hot an cold shooting, so if you catch him on an off night and limit Hawkins's attempts, then it might work. Rotate fresh bodies onto Hawkins and try to challenge his conditioning.
• Double/triple/quadruple team Sanogo with whoever isn't guarding Hawkins/Joey C and Newton is he's shooting well. Sanogo isn't going to pass it out, and his shooting % is not good when he starting making 2+ counter-moves in the post.

Offense:

• Attack the 4 in pick and roll early--try to get Karaban in foul trouble. Our only real backup there is Jackson, and we look noticeably worse when he plays the 4. We are relying on him A LOT as a freshman, and he's been hitting a (totally expected and normal) wall right now. I'm going to hope he doesn't have his breakout game to push out of his freshman slump against us, because when he does our opponent isn't going to win. He has an 18/6/4 game on the way.
• Attack Joey C relentlessly off the bounce, particularly with Sanogo in the game because he isn't as much of a shotblocker. I'm going to try to get him out of the game. Our backup guards can't shoot worth a lick right now, so it might help us pack the paint and keep Sanogo to under 15 for the game.
• Shoot really well. This is probably the most important element, honestly. I don't see us getting beat unless a team has a lights out shooting night.

We are not an unbeatable team. It will take a really good team playing their best to get us right now (and probably a bad shooting night from us), but it's possible.

 

[Tenspro2002]

On defense: Ball pressure on guards, double-team on bigs. Dare Jackson, Newton, Alleyne, Diarra to shoot and hope they have an off night and it gets in their heads. Over-play the "roll" guy on pick and roll and make guards hit tough runners in the lane.

On offense: Post up our 4s if you have two bigs who can do it. Otherwise, play 5 out and make our bigs defend on the perimeter or open up driving lanes and go 1-on-1 at our weaker on-ball defenders (e.g. Joey C).

 

[CL82]

Thats why Hurley is holding on to his Clingan at PG lineups until March

The kid can do it all!

(You joke, but last night in the woman’s game without Paige Bueckers, Nika Muhl, Lou Lopez, and Azzi Fudd, the best guard option appeared to be center Aaliyah Edwards, who ended up bringing the ball up after we had been turned over a number of times.)

 

[Umami Zen]

Opposing coaches can hope everyone has a cold shooting night (highly unlikely) or every starter is in early foul trouble (highly unlikely) or the refs are tired of seeing UConn win by double digits -- So it becomes a free throw shooting contest where we miss all of our free throws (highly unlikely)..

All I got

 

[PChoops]

Not sure how many of our games you’ve watched but Sanogo/Clingan have already faced some pretty big guys, and each has had a game they didn’t play well, team still won by double digits. We’ll see but I’m looking forward to our PC matchups this year

I watched the first one, PKI and the Florida game..... I'm going to need Clingan to enter the draft after this season, kid is a force.

 

[bigknight3]

Can we delete this thread so some no name Coach of a mid major doesn't stumble upon it when he Google's the exact thread title when we play them the second game of opening weekend in the NCAA tournament?!

 

[auror]

Nice try, FBI.

 

[polycom]

The way to stop us by doubling every post touch from Sanogo, and hard closeouts on all 3s. We can barely dribble as a team and we pass really well so if we are forced to put the ball on the floor in the half court we'll struggle. Also, the team has to have athletes or none of the previously mentioned stuff matters. Pressing us might work but they pass pretty well as a team so it's pretty easy to break a press.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Croswell is a big boy, Sanogo will get his but all Croswell will make it tough. For Clingan, I thinking you have to put him in pick and roll situations and try to get him in foul trouble. On offense I don't see anyone on Uconn that can stop Hopkins. I think we can attack karaban hopefully the 3 ball is falling......that's what I got

Real hard to gameplan to get the bigs in foul trouble because of how talented Clingan is. If Hurley ends up with an even split on minutes, it's really not that much of a detriment to the team.

I would also think that Hopkins will have a very steady dose of Jackson draped all over him. I'm not sure the confidence is warranted against a player that is certainly a top 5 on ball defender in college basketball this season.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Pack the middle and pray UConn goes super cold from three. Even with that strategy we win because our bigs are too skilled offensively. We'd have to have a very bad night (especially foul trouble) and opponent would need to play insanely well.

 

[HailUConn]

They think they can win, but they don’t have a chance. — Adama Sanogo

 

[Kenny11]

Flop and try to get both Sanogo and Clingan in foul trouble in the same game. Easier said than done but it could potentially happen.